Samstag, 9. Februar 2008

Updates - Qassam-Barrage on Saturday

Sehr unüblich: Normalerweise wird der religiöse Ruhetag weitgehend von beiden Seiten aktzeptiert. An diesem Wochenende gehen die gegenseitigen Attacken weiter: Am Freitag Abend werden bei zusätzlichen acht Qassam-Raketenabschüssen auf die israelische Grenzstadt Sderot verschiedene Häuser getroffen. Zwei Personen werden verletzt, verschiedene Personen müssen wegen Schockzuständen behandelt werden. Am Samstag morgen werden erneut zwei Qassam-Raketen abgeschossen. Die israelische Luftwaffe fliegt nach eigenen angaben am Samstag Einsätze gegen fünf Qassam-Einheiten im Raum Khan Younis. Ein PRC-Mitglied wird verletzt. [As Kassam rockets continued to hit the western Negev on Saturday, Public Security Minister Avi Dichter paid a visit to the beleaguered town of Sderot. "I found a battered town where some 20 percent of residents have simply upped and left," Army Radio quoted Dichter as saying. The public security minister said that Sderot residents described to him how they were living from one miracle to the next and that on Saturday morning, there was a higher attendance in synagogues than usual. "When I traveled in the direction of Sderot," continued Dichter, "I saw crowds arriving for the Darom Adom festival, but when I got to Sderot, I saw desolate streets, emptied of people - people closed up inside their homes."] ... [Karom Darom, man erinnere sich an die Live for Sderot - Kampagne.] Zum Thema der Stromreduzierung: Human Rights Watch said Israel's electricity cuts "amount to collective punishment of the civilian population, and violate Israel's obligations under the laws of war." It said the cuts are affecting civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, water-pumping stations and sewage-treatment facilities.

Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said Friday that the human rights groups should be out protecting the children of the Negev who are being targeted by Qassam rockets.

Israeli security sources described Thursday's move as gradual and proportional, stressing that the defense establishment would keep its commitment to the Supreme Court not to undertake actions that would result in a humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip. "We need to diminish the dependency of the Gaza Strip on Israel in a variety of areas," Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai said Thursday during a visit to Sderot and Ashkelon. "The Supreme Court ruled that on the matter of the electricity we are acting properly. Our intention is to begin to lower the electricity supply in moderate amounts, while the residents of Gaza build the infrastructure for an independent supply of electricity," he added. Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem criticized Vilnai's remarks Thursday, saying that his "statements that the aim of the cuts is to assist the Strip to free itself from dependence on Israel is a new peak of cynicism and contradicts the arguments made by the state before the Supreme Court. At this stage Israel prevents the Gaza Strip from developing its independent energy supply - which has caused a deficit of 20 percent in the electricity supply in the Strip, compared to the needs of the population." [...] Britain on Saturday criticized Israel's cutback of one percent of the power it supplies to the Gaza Strip, and urged Israel to reverse the decision, which was made in the wake of ongoing rocket fire from Gaza on southern Israeli communities. British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said in a statement that he was extremely concerned by the cuts. "We believe that such action risks a further deterioration in the humanitarian situation in Gaza without improving the security situation. Without a steady supply of electricity hospitals cannot function, pumping stations and sewage systems fail, and access to clean water is denied," Miliband said. Der übliche Nebenkriegsschauplatz: Israel's ambassador to the United Nations Dan Gillerman filed a complaint to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon and to the UN Security Council on Friday following a barrage of Qassam rockets Friday launched from the Gaza Strip into Israeli communities. Gillerman wrote the letter which "condemned the severe terror acts that have recently been carried out against Israel."